We're a Finalist! Self Catering Accommodation of the Year- Suffolk and Norfolk

Image of the exterior of North Cottage Cromer showing the traditional Norfolk brick and flint construction. Overlaid is the Finalist badge for the Visit Suffolk and Norfolk Tourism Awarsd 2025.

Exciting news! We were thrilled this week to hear North Cottage Cromer is a finalist in the Self Catering Accommodation of the Year category at the Suffolk and Norfolk Tourism Awards.

Guest Reviews Encouraged Us to Enter

We were encouraged to enter for the awards at the end of last year when we noticed Airbnb had put a banner on our listing to recognise that we were in the top 5% of most loved homes globally. Their recognition is based on ratings and reviews. We have forty 5* reviews on the platform – every single review is for the maximum score of 5.

Graphic illustrating that North Cottage Cromer is a Guest Favourite on Airbnb and is placed in the top 5% of homes.

Airbnb awards stars based on overall experience, cleanliness, accuracy, check-in, communication, location, value and amenities.

We also have nearly 50 reviews on google. These really help guests decide whether North Cottage Cromer will offer them everything they’re looking for in a holiday cottage. So with almost 90 all 5* reviews we concluded we were offering what guests wanted from their stay.

Looking across the gardens to the rear of North Cottage Cromer, featuring the huge 70m square garden room in the foreground.

Our Unique Offer – A Personal Welcome

We work hard on the things we offer to ensure what we’re offering is different to other holiday accommodation. We offer a home from home, where hopefully everything you would expect to find is ready and waiting. We provide quality furnishings and appliances, and personal touch, a special place, plenty of space for everyone to relax.

We greet all our guests personally and show you around so you’re immediately familiar with how everything works. We can suggest things to see and do, and then you’re free to get on with your stay without worrying about reading guest manuals or missing out.

Conserving Our Historic Home

We’ve worked on offering something more sustainable too. Over the last few years we’ve refurbished all the original sash windows with draught proofing and double glazing. We’ve installed a new energy efficient boiler and internet controlled radiator valves to create 15 different heating zones in all the rooms. Outside we’ve installed 4 x 240 litre water butts to capture rain water for the lush gardens. Inside we’ve reduced waste and helped guests to reduce our laundry impact.

A view from the rooftop at North Cottage Cromer towards the town and Church.

We’re also conserving our historic building, employing traditional building techniques like lime render. We’ve also rebuilt both chimneys re-using the original bricks and traditional lime mortar.

Colourful border at North Cottage Cromer. The gardens are biodiverse and attract a wide variety of birds, insects and small mammals like hedgehogs.

The gardens are often singled out for admiration by many of our guests. This really pleases us, as we’re very keen gardeners and we love working on them (yes, we know not everyone loves gardening, but most people enjoy relaxing in a nice garden!).

The fossil collectors case at North Cottage Cromer. North Norfolk is the Deep History Coast - some of these fossils are millions of years old.

The Judge’s Visit – Just Like Any Other Stay

When the one of the Visit East of England judges came to stay with their family this month (January) we didn’t roll out the red carpet. They got the same special treatment all our guests receive. A warm welcome to a super clean house, in a great location. The judge’s young children immediately looked at our fossil collection from the beach (Cromer is on the Deep History Coast), played with the various games we offer and ran around the house excitedly. We shared tips about Cromer and were delighted to discover they were already regular visitors. Even though it was icy cold outside we enjoyed looking at the gardens and swapped local plant buying tips.

We returned the following day to see happy children playing with the ice on the boating pond in the park right outside our gate.

The judge didn’t fill in our ‘how did we do?’ feedback form we leave for all our guests (what a surprise!) and she had a great ‘poker face’ so we really didn’t know whether we’d need our glad rags for the gala awards at Norwich Castle in March or not.

So we really were thrilled when we received the email a week later informing us North Cottage Cromer is a finalist in the Self Catering Accommodation of the Year category of the Visit Suffolk and Norfolk Tourism Awards. This also makes us a finalist in the Visit England Awards for Excellence that’ll be held later this year.

You Can Be a Judge Too!

If you’d like to come and stay and judge North Cottage Cromer for yourself we’d love to welcome you. Please book quickly before word gets around and the calendar fills up!